Courtesy RGF Wearing her Olympics leotard yesterday afternoon, Ksenia Afanasyeva faced off all doubts about her ability to manage pressure with a breathtaking performance on the floor. Afanasyeva's artistry is now matched by her confidence and aggression in the all-important tumbling. Her start value of 6.3 was the highest of the competition, her score of 15.166 superior to that earned in Tokyo two years ago when she took the world title on this apparatus. Short term, she has sacrificed some of the choreography from her Olympic floor routine to favour work on consistency, but a new routine is promised for this autumn's World Championships. The pressure Afanasyeva faced came from many directions, most tangibly in the audience she faced who included many of the most influential people in sport in Russia. Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and senior representatives of sponsors VTB were there to check on and celebrate the results of their considerable investment. H...
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